Before delving into what I listened to and read last month, I want to mention that there is now a link in the blog that takes you straight to a page where all the reading and listening of the month are stored. All in one place, in case you miss a post or want to have a look at some suggestions.
Back to September audios and papers now, here is what I have been up to.
AUDIO BOOKS
DON’T LET HIM IN by Lisa Jewel, The latest of her novels and my first listening of Jewel’s book, and and must say it doesn’t make a difference if you read her or listen to her, you simply can’t stop till you reach the end. 🌟🌟🌟🌟
THE VACATION by Kathryn Croft, Set in Italy it was nicely plotted but a bit unrealistic and not original at all.🌟🌟
BEHIND LOCKED DOORS by Sarah Denzil, dark and twisted enough to make you keep listening, but there is something amiss, and some questions and motivations never find an answer.🌟🌟🌟
THE CHATEAU by Avery Bishop, a damn good psychological thriller with a twist by the end that you do not see coming.🌟🌟🌟 🌟
A PARISH MURDER by Mary Grand, a good old-fashioned whodunit at its best. I already downloaded more from this author, who indeed gave me lots of Agatha’s vibes.🌟🌟🌟🌟
WATCHING YOU by Lisa Jewel, probably the only one of her past books I haven’t read, and once again I was not disappointed, but to be completely honest, I found it a bit overwhelming and confusing at tracts; too many characters and a bit of rambling in the end.🌟🌟🌟
PAPER BOOKS
A DEATH IN BERLIN by Simon Sparrow, this was the third instalment in the Inspector Shenke trilogy, a series that I loved and highly recommend. I personally preferred the first two books to this one, but purely because of the environments where the crime had taken place. They were, for my personal taste, more intriguing.🌟🌟🌟
I KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE by Dorothy Koomson, well plotted, well thought through characters, an intriguing plot that could be close to home to anyone, with a bit of imagination.🌟🌟🌟
I’ve been back from the holidays for a week now and already feel like it never happened, but it did!!! And we also had a little holiday during the holiday. We went, in fact, away to lovely Carinthia for a few days. It’s not a long drive from Venice, and the view through the mountains is exquisite.
We spent a day at the gorgeous Wörthersee lake; just a pity that, once there, I realised that I had forgotten my swimming gear. “ How could you forget your own swimsuit?” They patronizingly asked in unison, “Maybe because I was busy packing your bags? You ungrateful a……s ????” . Anyway, being me I refuse to let the little inconvenience ruin my day at the lake and I instead looked at it like destiny telling me I need to go to that gorgeous and costly but only little boutique by the lake and take possession of a new swimsuit and beach cover.
The night and the following day we spent them in Klagenfurt. It was “ferragosto” that for continental Europe is the biggest summer bank holiday and most shop were closed, that was good because I had already spent my souvenir budget on my unnecessary silk beach cover, but caffe and restaurant were opened and I could have my big slice of original Tyrolese apple strudel with whipped cream, while someone else was having his bratwurst and the other two “elses” were snapping TikTok videos around the old town.
Now, before moving on to our last day at the Hochosterwitz Castle, I must mentioned that beside having the most beautiful and enchanting(and never word was more appropriate) Magic Caffe, Klaghenfurt has also books vending machines and of course I had to try them, after all daughter number two is pretty fluent in German and money in books are always well spent right???? And we also convinced the travelling husband that they were not souvenirs so we could go over budget at the castle where, finally, we found some souvenir shops open.
Hochosterwitz Castle is one of the three castles around Klagenfurt and the most well-conserved. A proper castle built on a hill for defensive reasons, with gardens and rooms to visit and a nice museum about life in medieval days. We all enjoyed it and also managed to get a selfie with all four of us in it but, most importantly and very unusual, all four of us had our eyes open and were smiling. A real miracle, except I should have known that more than a divine sign was an omen for what was coming.
On our way back to Venice we stopped at the Pyramidenkogel, a 100-meter-tall wooden and steel structure with a 360-degree view of Lake Wörthersee and the surrounding landscape. Very impressive indeed; but was it worth the visit and the cost of the lift to go up? NO!!! And even less is it worth it the coming down with the zip line that was slow to the verge of boredom, but that was probably with the purpose to give the impression your money was well spent and you didn’t burn them in a flash of a second. Just an impression though!
But this was not what tainted our little holiday.
It all started to fall apart around lunch time when, despite the abundant and rich breakfast we had only a few hours prior, the travelling husband got hungry. Not very hungry, but hungry enough to stop and have something light and quick, he said.
He also said that he saw a nice place on our way to the Pyramidenkogel and wanted to go there. So we left behind the multitude of kiosks and bars and restaurants where all of us could have found what we wanted and we headed to “the place ” where he could have his light and quick lunch that, we found out only later, had to be a bratwurst. Quick maybe but arguably light. Anyway, a man has to do what gotta to do right? And like in Boston, where he committed himself to having at least a lobster roll a day, here he had to have at least a bratwurst a day and because we would have been back home for dinner this was his last chance.
We understood and decided to support him but when we reach ” the place” we drew a line.
Already from the parking area everything in that restaurant screamed “RUN!!!”. It might have had the best bratwursts in the world, but it also had at least a dozen families with not less than four kids each and of course, all the tables were overlooking the playground so that you could eat and keep an eye on your offspring while they were loudly abusing the ears of everybody around. Being the travelling husband of course he realised what a trap the place was but wouldn’t admit it and so he blamed us for the next half an hour we spent looking for a decent place to eat.
Half an hour in which, also with the complicity of the outside 35 degrees, the level of crankiness in the car rose worryingly and a couple of times I was threatened to be left behind.
Finally, we reached the other side of the lake where there were plenty of restaurants where we could all enjoy our lunch caressed by the breeze of the lake.
With great hopes and expectations, we sat at three different restaurants and left them all one after the other. NO BRATWURSTS!!!!
At that point, we would have happily drawn the line at the travelling husband too, but he had the car keys and so we had no other choice than to submit to his crazy search for bratwursts till he found where to get one.
And with their bellies satisfied, they drove home happy ever after.🥰
There was this book I wanted to read for a while but never did because it’s about a missing kid and, the only idea, felt upsetting. Too close to home I suppose. But I like the author though, her thrillers never disappointed me so when I saw it at the airport I grabbed it hoping for the best. And the best it was!!!
I read it in three days, and it didn’t upset me. It wasn’t a random abduction, which I believe is every parent’s worst nightmare, and it wasn’t that close to home after all.
Oh, did I mention that by “close to home” I meant that time I lost daughter number two, twenty years of my life, four buckets of panick sweat and any human dignity all at once in a fraction of time that wasn’t most likely longer than 15 minutes but felt like hours?
Anyway, back to the book, the more I dived into it, the more I realised that what happened to poor Sive ( the fictional character and mother of the missing kid), was totally different to what happened to me.
First of all, I did not lose my child, she lost me. She, in fact decided to step away from me and, once she couldn’t see me anymore, going straight to the security guard who took her to their station and promptly looked for me after she gave them her mother’s name and a very accurate description. A description, I must say, far more accurate than the one I gave of her but, she was not panicking pretending ( unsuccessfully ) not too in front of her sister. No, she was happily drawing and looking at the guards’ security monitors feeling to be at the cinema. Most likely she had watched me running around the shop shouting her name like I was possessed before pointing out I was her mother.
Secondly, I would have never sent my two and six-year-old daughters ahead on the Tube while rummaging in my purse trying to find my phone to answer and consequently missing the train. Who does that? No woman in the world hears her phone when is in their bag and, normally, they already have it in their hands to take lovely Instagrammable pics.
Third, unlike Sive, I don’t have to fear the moment to tell what had happened to my husband because he will blame me. The travelling husband never would, and he didn’t that time. And no, not out of compassion, he didn’t get the whole ordeal. And still doesn’t! “But you got her back, and she was never really lost!” He said when I told him, “ Yes, but for the time I thought she was missing it was beyond comprehension the terror I felt..”I protested. “ But she was fine, she was never in danger,” he replied still incredulous that I still had goosebumps only at the memory of what had happened, or worst of what could have happened, “she hasn’t even realised she could be in any danger,” he insisted ,”soooo….”
So…. when it comes to a factual husband you just pick your battles and enjoy a double straight whiskey.
